Monday, January 04, 2010

Christians are having a big impact in Africa, it seems--especially those from the US.

In recent memory, we have:

US Evangelicals James Dobson and Franklin Graham (son of Billy) easily inserted themselves in AIDS relief efforts in Africa under the Bush administration. While marketing their "charity" to the home base to get more donations, they sabotaged relief programs and used their power to evangelize a desperate captive audience. Embrace Christianity to get medicine or die.

Apparently, their campaign was a bit too successful. Uganda is considering implementing what Christians here in the US have always wanted: laws that punish homosexuality with death--just like the BUYBULL sayz (Lev. 2o:13). We all know conservative Christians want to inflict Leviticus on their enemies, but ignore it otherwise.

The constant in this equation is the religious exploitation of the poor and ignorant in whatever continent. ...Just as they've always done. We could make the world a better place by separating the US government from these exploitative efforts. Let the Vatican and US Christian groups stand alone without sullying the US's reputation on these efforts. Let's call the exploitation of Africa a Christian initiative when it is, as in these cases. Let's stop giving government subsidies and tax breaks to religious groups that promote hate and exploit people--even if that's all of them. Finally, let's put some of these people on trial for their crimes against humanity.

13 comments:

These religious groups only give vigorous support to such policies when they think they can get away with it (in some examples, outside of their own nation).

This shows once again that it is subjective morality and laws that hold these god-inspired believers in check, and creates conditions within most western nations that could not tolerate such murderous bigotry.

In these days of instant communication, where information is only a couple of googles away, it scares me how easily it is for people to lie. That the pope can make claims that are commonly known to be factually wrong, and still retain the level a level of respect he has, is simply mind boggeling. We might be in The Information, but there seems little sign of progress towards The Age of Intelligence

It's amazing to me that the same people that decry the growing distance from "biblical principals" in America, are the same people who are appalled of the increase acceptance of "biblical principals" in other countries.

I think this shows that the pressure of the parishioners who attend these mega-Churches and who also know and love some of the homosexuals that are routinely slandered from the pulpit, help to assuage the fiery fallacious rhetoric against the gay community.

It is not that comforting to know that some of these efforts are funded with our tax dollars. The results of the faith based initiatives funding policies are still with us. President Obama has not put an end to these practices only set up a faith based oversight committee. Congress can do something about this and that is where pressure is needed.

As far as the pope is concerned, many Catholics are voting with their feet. It is only immigrants that keeping many churches open in the US. The only growth is in the Third World. It's too bad that the poor cannot see how false the hope he is selling is.

As to Franklin Graham and Samaritan's Purse, they do not withhold releaf supplies / efforts from those who do not hodl the Christian faiht neither do they require a person to become a Christian before they will help them.

I have to concur with J.K. Jones and Lambie on this one, Don. There is nothing in the article you link to that says Franklin Graham's relief groups require conversion to Christianity before a person can receive aid from them. Now, I'm sure that evangelizing is part of what they do to the captive audience of people seeking aid from them. But that's rather a different thing from what you're accusing them of. You ought to make sure you have an ironclad source to cite before lobbing an accusation like that.

I'd like to comment that I think putting the nazi hat on pope Benedict is doing him a disservice (and besides, his existing hat is more than silly enough). True, Joseph Ratzinger was a member of the Hitler Youth from age 14 on, but such membership was actually mandatory in nazi Germany. There is nothing to indicate that he was a supporter of the nazi regime or ideology - this does not in any way mean he's any less of a (Bene)dick, he's just not a nazi dick.

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